Pete Buttigieg says he's 'almost certain' there's already been a gay US president

“I would imagine we’ve probably had excellent presidents who were gay, we just didn’t know which ones.”

Pete Buttigieg believes there might have already been a gay US President. Source: Getty Images North America

It's been widely reported by the US media - and celebrated by supporters - that Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg could become the first openly gay US president in 2020.

However, he's not so sure.

Speaking in an interview for Axios on HBO, the openly gay Mayor of South Bend, Indiana, said he was 'almost certain' that there has already been a gay US President - we just don't know who.

“If you were to win the nomination, they’ll say you’re too young, too liberal, too gay to be commander in chief," the interviewer commented.

"You are young, you are liberal, you are gay. How will you respond?”

Buttigieg replied: “I will respond by explaining where I want to lead this country. People will elect the person who will make the best president, and we have had excellent presidents who have been young, we have had excellent presidents who have been liberal."

He added: “I would imagine we’ve probably had excellent presidents who were gay, we just didn’t know which ones.”

Buttigieg mused that “statistically, it’s almost certain."

“My gaydar even doesn’t work that well in the present, let alone retroactively,” he said. “But one can only assume that’s the case.”

It's widely believed that James Buchanan, who became president in 1857, was a gay man.

Buchanan lived with William Rufus King, a senator from Alabama and eventual vice president to Franklin Pierce.